Indexable work holder for bending machine



Sept. 10, 195 H. o. SOUTHWORTH 2,805,698

- INDEXABLE WORK HOLDER FOR BENDING MACHINE Filed Nov. 2, 1953 I I I F|G.4"" E F WIIIIIIIIII v v Ge 6 INVENTOR. HOME R O. SOUTHWORTH ATTORNEY INDEXABLE WORK HOLDER FOR BENDING MACHINE Homer 0. Sonthwort-h, Davenport, Iowa Application November 2, 1953, Serial No. 389,694

4 Claims. (Cl. 153-40) The present invention relates to a machine for bending steel pipes, metal tubes, and rods, particularly for bending them at various angles and in various directions, essential in the making of modern furniture and furnishings. It is an object of this invention to make accurate bends and thereby to increase the rate of production of mechanical work, thus reducing the cost to the consumer.

My invention resides in the combination, construction, and arrangement of parts illustrated in the accompanying drawings and, while I have shown therein what is now regarded as the preferred embodiment of this invention, I desire the same to be understood as illustrative only and not to be interpreted in a limiting sense.

In the drawings annexed hereto and forming a part hereof,

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a substantially complete bending machine;

Fig. 2 is a cross-section substantially along the plane indicated by the line 2-2, in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a cross-section substantially along the plane indicated by the line 3-3, in Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a plan section substantially along the plane indicated by the line 44, in Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is a cross-section substantially along the plane indicated by the line 55, in Fig. 4; and

Fig. 6 is a perspective View of a frame bent by the present machine.

Referencewill now be made in greater detail to the annexed drawings for a more complete description of this invention. One end of a supporting I-beam, or other suitably functioning structure, rests on a standard, not shown, and the other end of the I-beam is supported on the plate 2 which rests on a suitable support 2a, and this rests on a post 217, to support the work at a suitable height. This I-beam 1 has upper and lower flanges 1a and 11). On this I-beam 1 is slidably mounted a carriage provided with a plurality of rollers 3, 4, 5, and 6 which serve to reduce the friction of the carriage as it moves along the I-beam. At the sides of the I-beam is mounted a pair of rollers 7 and 8 to keep the carriage from tipping over during operation.

The top of the beam 1 is provided with a plurality of stops 9, 10, securable thereto in spaced apart relation therealong and cooperative with a selectively engageable and disengageable latch 11 on the carriage and affording first stop means for determining selected positions of the carriage along the beam as the tube 33 is fed to the bending means 2. A spring 12 normally urges the latch 11 to engaged position, firom which it is withdrawable by a handle 13 which lies conveniently adjacent to a handle 14 rigid on and for moving the carriage lengthwise of the beam 1. A reenforcing bar 14a extends between the :carriage end plates 16 and 17, and these plates are apertured in axial alinement for rigid interconnection by a generally tubular journaling member 19, here of C-shaped section, which journals a tube receiver made up of a generally tubular journaled member 18 having opposite end members or plates 20 and 20a welded thereto. The end plates 20 and 20a lie respectively axially outwardly of the carriage end plates 16, 17 and thus confine the receiver against axial displacement relative to the carriage while the journaling member 19 carries the receiver via the journaled member 18 for selective rocking about the common axis of the tubular members.

The angular position of the receiver relative to the carriage is selectively determined by index means comprising a plurailty of radial bores 22 in the end plate 20, which is remote from the bending means 2, and a stop pin 23 shiftably carried by the carriage and controlled by a control element 23a that extends in convenient proximity to a handle 21 on the receiver, which handle, secured to the plate 20, affords means for turning the receiver among its several angular positions. The tubular member 18, like the tubular member 19, is of O-shaped section and in the positions of the parts as shown, the open sides of the Cs afford registered slots at 27 for a purpose to presently appear.

A tube-clamping chuck 2? is carried by the end plate 20a, which is proximate to the tube bending means 2, for gripping the initial end 33a of the tube 33, and a stop 28 lies behind the chuck to limit the entry of the tube into the receiver. A screw 30 is typical of means for tightening and loosening the chuck. The tube 33 extends coaxially from the receiver and toward the bending means 2, whereat it passes behind a radius sheave 32 to be bent by a swinging bending arm 32d. The bending machine may be of any well-known design and the details are not material. Suflice it to note that when the'tube is clamped in the chuck 29, it extends as described and the position of the :carriage as stopped by engagement of the latch 11 with one of the stops 9, 10, determines the length of the tube 33 that will extend past the radius sheave 32. To form a configuration as shown in Figure 6, as many stops 9, 10 will be required as there are bend-s, here six, because there are six bends labeled A, B, C, D, E and F. It should be further understood that the distance between the starting position of the carriage and tube bending means 2 is greater than that shown, it being recognized that an intermediate portion of the structure is omitted to conserve space.

With the foregoing in mind, the tube is clamped at its end 33a in the chuck 29 as aforesaid and the carriage 'is stopped at its first position with the handle 21 up as shown. A predetermined portion, here the end portion 3312, will extend past the radius sheave 32 and the arm 32d is swung through about (toward the reader in Figure l) to form the first bend. The arm 32d is returned to its starting position and the carriage is moved to its next stop but this time the receiver is rotated 90 forwardly (arrow, Fig. 2), which will of course turn the tube 33 in addition to extending another portion thereof past the radius sheave 32. The arm 3203 is swung, again roughly about 90 in the same direction as above, and the bend B is formed, after which the arm 320! is returned to start, it being clear that this arm is swung and returned for each bend. The carriage is again advanced to the next stop but is returned to its original angular position, since the plane of the portion of the tubular frame between the next bend C and the next subsequent bend D is parallel to the piane of the frame portion between bends A and F. For the bend D, the carriage is advanced to the next stop but its angular position is retained, because the plane of the bend D is the same as that of the bend C. Next, the carriage is advanced to its fifth stop and the receiver is again turned forwardly and the arm 32d operated to produce the bend E in a plane parallel to the bend B. The final stop is next reached and the receiver returned to its original angular position to form the final bend F in the same plane as the bend A. As the bend F is formed, the terminal end 33b of the tube is brought back into alinement with the initial end 33a and since the end 33a is in the chuck 29, the end 33b enters the slot 27 but behind the stop 28, and the bending operation is over, the chuck being released and the product of Figure 6 is removed. Control of the amount of angular movement of the bending arm 32a, as Well as interchanging of ,the radius sheaves, forms no part of this invention. However, the indexing means 22-23 does accommodate changes in planes as among the several bends. For example, as shown here, bends A and F lie in one plane and bends B and E lie in planes substantially at right angles to the plane of A and B. By selecting others of the bores 22 in the index means, this angle can be changed.

It is of course understood that the specific description of structure setforth herein may be departed from without departing from the spirit of this invention as disclosed in this specification and as defined by the appended claims. l r

Having now described my invention, I claim:

1. In a tube bending machine having tube bending means to which tubing is fed along a straight-line path, the improvement comprising an elongated beam lying along said path with one end portion proximate to and the other end portion remote from the bending means; a carriage movable along the beam from a starting position remote from the bending means, said carriage including a pair of end members spaced apart lengthwise of the beam and projecting normally thereto and respectively apertured to loosely receive the beam, a generally tubular journaling member paralleling the beam and extending between and rigidly interconnecting the end members to aflord a unified structure, and a plurality of roller means on the carriage and riding the beam; a tube-receiver rockable on the carriage about the axis of the journaling member and movable with the carriage along the beam,said receiver including a generally tubular journaled member coaxially and rockably carried by the journaling member and having rigidly at opposite ends thereof end members respectively axially outwardly of and engaging the carriage end members to hold the receiver against axial displacement relative to the carriage; a tube clamping chuck coaxially carried at the receiver end member that is disposed toward the bending means for clamping a coaxial tube to be fed to said bending means; stop means for selectively determining the amount of movement of the carriage and receiver toward the bending means, said stop means comprising a plurality of stops on and spaced lengthwise along the beam and a stop latch on the carriage selectively engageable with and releasable from said stops; and index means for selectively holding the receiver against rocking and for enabling said receiver to rock relative to the carriage, said index meansincluding cooperative selectively engageable and disengageable elements respectively on those ends of the carriage and receiver opposite to the tube clamping chuck.

2. The invention defined in claim 1, in which the beam has an I-shaped cross section affording opposite flanges and a web interconnecting said flanges, the roller means on the carriage includes rollers riding one of the flanges and other rollers riding the web, and the apertures in the end members are rectangular to accommodate the beam, whereby the carriage and receiver are constrained for travel parallel to the beam.

3. The invention defined in claim 1, in which the receiver carries a tube stop inwardly of the chuck to limit entrance of the tube into the receiver, and the journaling and journaled members respectively have slots running lengthwise thereof and 'registrable in at least one indexed position of the receiver relative to the carriage for receiving a terminal portion of the ultimately bent tube when bent back upon itself, 'said tube stop being so disposed as to enable entrance of said terminal end of the tube into said registered slots.

4. The invention defined in claim 1, in which the end member of the receiver adjacent to the index means includes a handle extending radially therefrom and the index means includes a control member extending closely adjacent to said handle.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 241,907 Barnes May 24, 1881 2,382,745 Powers Aug. 14, 1945 FOREIGN PATENTS 736,855 Great Britain Sept. 14, 1955 

